This invention relates generally to pumpkin carving devices and, more particularly, to a pumpkin carving apparatus which enables a child to carve a pumpkin while reducing the risk of being cut by a cutting blade.
Carving a pumpkin is traditional in the autumn season and especially at Halloween. While children desire to carve their own pumpkins, many parents are reluctant to allow children to use long, sharp knives without considerable assistance. The practical reality is that many children are unable to fulfill their desire to carve their own pumpkin until they are considerably older.
Many devices have been proposed in the art for cutting and carving pumpkins. Although assumably effective for their intended purposes, the existing devices do not. satisfy the safety concerns relative to a child operating sharp cutting tools, especially in use with an unstable, irregularly shaped pumpkin.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a pumpkin cutting apparatus which encloses a pumpkin and shields a user""s hands from contact with any cutting edge. Further, it is desirable to have an apparatus which retains a cut portion such that the cut portion need not be separately removed from the pumpkin""s interior. In addition, it is desirable to have an apparatus which utilizes rotational shaft actuation of the cutter such that a child is able to easily carve a pumpkin.
A pumpkin cutting apparatus according to the present invention includes a tubular shaft defining opposed first and second open ends and having a handle at the first end. A cutter is releasably coupled to the tubular shaft at the second end. The cutter includes a top wall with an inwardly sloping continuous side wall depending therefrom so as to define an open bottom and an interior cavity. A free edge of the side wall is the cutting edge for contact with the pumpkin. When a portion of the pumpkin has been completely cut, it is retained within the interior cavity of the cutter by the inwardly sloping side wall.
The apparatus also includes a plunger assembly for selectively ejecting a cut pumpkin portion from the interior cavity of the cutter, such as after the cutter and cut portion have been removed through the same hole from which it was cut. The plunger assembly includes a plunger shaft that is longer than the tubular shaft and which extends therethrough and through the cutter. Therefore, as the cutter is pressed against a pumpkin surface and a cut pumpkin portion is gradually received into the interior cavity, the plunger shaft is correspondingly moved upwardly through the tubular shaft with a plunger head eventually extending from the first open end of the tubular shaft. Once the cutter is removed back through the cut hole, the plunger head member may be pushed back down so as to eject the cut portion. The plunger shaft may be spring loaded so as to assist in the ejection.
The apparatus includes a base assembly having an elastomeric base shell that may be placed around a pumpkin to keep it stable during carving. A transparent dome cover may be releasably coupled to the shell in a tongue and groove arrangement. The dome defines an aperture at its apex through which the tubular shaft may extend. The dome allows a child to clearly view the pumpkin he is carving while protecting his hands from inadvertent contact with the cutter. The aperture and tubular shaft may have complementary threads such that the cutter is pressed deeper into the pumpkin as the shaft is rotated. The cutter is rotatably coupled in the tubular shaft such that the cutter may maintain a stationary cutting position on the pumpkin even during tubular shaft rotation.
Therefore, a general object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for carving a pumpkin which holds a pumpkin in a stable position while carving it.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, having a cutter which retains a portion cut from a pumpkin for post-removal ejection.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, which encloses a pumpkin under a transparent cover and separates a user""s hands from the cutter so as to prevent injury.
A further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, which allows a child to actuate the cutter with an easy rotational action.